Tube cutter



April 10, 1934. w `A PH|LL|5 1,953,975

TUBE CUTTER Filed March 23, 1933 WM Q. WVM@ Patented Apr. 10, 1934 PATENT ori-"ICE TUBE CUTTER William A. Phillis, Warren, Ghior assignor to The' Borden Company, Warren, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application March' 23',

14 Claim.

This invention relates to a hand tool suitable for cutting orf portions of metal tubes. Thinwalled copper tubing has recently become popular as a substitute for iron water pipes, but diiculties have been encountered in cutting the tubes to proper length, as the wall is comparatively pliable and ordinary cutting tools are likely to indent the wall, injuring the tubing, and do not give a truly right-angle cut.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a hand tool, which may be eifectively used in cutting off thin walled tubing accurately at right angles to the axis without distorting the wall of the tube. The simplicity of the tool, enabling its economical production is also a feature of' my invention.

The tube is illustrated in a preferred form in the drawing; it is hereinafter more fully described and its essential novel features are summarized in the claim.

, on Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section through the tool in a plane parallel with Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a perspective of the body portion o1? the tool; Fig. 5 is a perspective of the slidable jaw.

The tool shown in the drawing comprises broadly a body member 10 having a transverse guide, and a jaw member 20, slidably mounted on the guide, one member carrying a rotary cutting wheel and the other having an angular seat, there being a screw and nut couple for adjusting the relation of the jaw to the body.

As shown, the body 10 comprises a head 11 and an integral handle 12, the head having a fiat transverse seat 13 and a longitudinally projecting portion 14 at one side of the seat. The latter portion of the head is shown as bifurcated at 15 by a slot in the central longitudinal plane o the head. In this slot is mounted the wheel cutter 30. This cutter is journalled on a pin 31 rigidly mounted in the head, the head being formed with cars 16 so that the cutter may have its axis near the plane defining the inner face of the projecting portion. Below the slot 15 in the head is a cylindrical bore 17, extending through the upwardly extending portion of the head. Below the sliding seat 13 of the head is a cavity 18, which is parallel with the seat and open at one end. For the most part this cavity is cylindrical, but it is open at the top by a slot 19 at the seat surface, this slot being narrower `than the widest portion of the cavity.

1933, Serial No. 662,265

(Cl` 81-191)A The jaw member 20, as shown in the drawing, comprises a block having a flat bottom surface 21, adapted to rest on the seat 13 of the body, and below this surface the jaw is provided with a nearly cylindrical extension 23, which is adapted to occupy the body cavity 18. The flat surfaces 13 and 21 of the body and jaw, respectively; form an accurate transverse guide for the jaw, while the rounded jaw extension 23 connected with the jaw proper by a neck 24, is adapted to occupy the transverse opening 18 in the body, the neck 2li occupying the slot 19. The jaw is thus siidably connected to the body. The jaw has an angular recess 27 directly opposite the cutter wheel 30, this recess flaring obliquely in each direction from a point which is opposite the axis of the cutter. The surfaces constituting the wall of the recess extend for a considerable distance parallel with the cutter axis and to each side of the cutter. The recess, accordingly, forms an effective seat for the tube in the general region opposite that engaged by the cutter.

The jaw is provided with a laterally extending rod 40, projecting from the inner face of the jaw at right angles thereto and adapted to occupy the opening 17 in the head projection. The end portion of this rod is threaded and receives a wing nut 50, which bears against the outer edge of the head and thus serves to draw the jaw toward the head. The rod may be secured to the jaw in any suitable manner. As shown in Fig. 3, it is threaded in the jaw and permanently secured by a counter-sunk rivet at the far end.

I provide a spring tending to separate the jaw from the cutter-carrying portion of the head, thus working in opposition to the wing nut. This spring is a simple compression spring 60, mounted in a cavity 28, formed in the jaw extension 23 and lying in the cavity 18 of the body and bearing at its opposite end against the closed end of that cavity. The spring is thus housed and retained in place and is effective to put an outward pressure against the jaw, maintaining it in whatever position it is given by the wing nut.

It will be seen that my cutting tool is made up of a very few members, namely, the body member with its cutter, the jaw member with its threaded rod, the adjusting nut on the rod, and the spring acting in opposition to the nut. The parts may be cheaply formed; at the same time accuracy is obtained by reason of the straight sliding movement of the jaw toward the axis of the cutter.

In use, the wing nut is unscrewed until there is sufficient clearance between the cutter and jaw for the same to be positioned about the tube;

then the wing nut is screwed on until there is proper engagement of the jaw and cutter With the tube wall; the tool is then rotated about the tube, and with each rotation the wing nut slightly tightened until the tube is cut 01T. As the tightening of the Wing nut is eifected by the operators fingers, there is no danger of the tool being clamped With undue pressure on the tube. Hence, the cutting is effected without distortion of the tube. The continuous jaw recess, extending in the form of flat surfaces for a considerable distance each side of the cutting region, forms an accurate positioning guide for the tube, insuring the cut being at right angles to the tube axis.

To prevent the jaw being inadvertently clamped against the cutter in the absence of a tube, which might tend to dull the cutter, I provide a stop, limiting the approach of the jaw. This stop comprises the end wall of the slot 19, which, as shown at in Figs. 3 and 4, is sufiicient distance beyond the face of the projection carrying the cutting Wheel to prevent the jaw surface 27 ever reaching the periphery of the wheel; that is to say, the maximum inward movement of the jaw is when the latter abuts the surface 70, in which position the surfaces 27 are still out of contact with the cutter 30.

In a tool of the character described, the conibination of a body member having a head with an upstanding projection and a lateral guiding surface at one side thereof, and a cavity beneath the guiding surface open through the surface by a slot narrower than the cavity, the projecting portion of the head being provided With an intermediate opening parallel with the guiding surface, the jaw member having a surface resting on the guide of the body and a projection beneath the surface occupying the cavity, and with a reduced neck which occupies the slotted opening of the cavity, the upstanding projection and the jaw being adapted to stand on opposite sides of the tube to be cut and one of them having a bifurcation in which is mounted a rotary cutter, and the other having an angular recess opposite the cutter and extending in each direction therefrom, a rod secured to the jaw member between the angular recess thereof and the projection, and extending through the intermediate opening of the head, a nut threaded onto the projecting portion of the rod beyond the head and bearing against the head, and a compression spring occupying the cavity in the head and bearing one end against the jaw projection and at the other end against the end Wall of the cavity.

WILLIAM A. PHILLIS. 

